Writers' dogs

   

    We have posts here on writers' portraits and their houses, but a letter in the paper this morning prompted me to start a new category for a bit of fun: writers' dogs (though if you're very good to me I might stretch it to include the odd cat).

    Here's the text of this morning's letter which is from Mr. Graham Chainey of Brighton:

"Only two people could tame Wessex, Thomas Hardy's snappy terrier [see this article]. One was Hardy, the other was T.E. Lawrence, or Private Shaw as he was in 1923 when he first visited Max Gate, Hardy's home. According to Nellie Titterington, the parlour maid: "Wessex was very fond of Lawrence, who could pat him and speak to him and had a wonderful power over him." While everyone else trying to retrieve something dropped on the floor would be bitten, Lawrence would not.

When the dog died, Lawrence told Mrs. Hardy: 'Few dogs appeal to me, but Wessex gained my very definite respect.'"

    There's a great deal more about Wessex in this post and this one (on famous Fox Terriers) from which you'll see that he was quite a character, though no dog of mine would be allowed to get away with some of the behaviour which Hardy evidently tolerated, but as Claire Tomalin says in her biography Thomas Hardy: The Time-torn Man, Wessex was one source of the tranquillity the writer found in later life, so perhaps we'll allow a little indulgence.

 

    Edited to add:

    Mr. C. has just emailed me to say that Emily Bronte's mastiff, Keeper (that's her own drawing of him), joined her funeral cortege then slept outside her empty bedroom for the rest of his life. That's so sad!

    Thanks to this post I discover there is a book on the subject: Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Bronte.

Comments

[Dark Puss]

"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God."

Speaking as an "odd cat", I'd suggest Colette who was very fond of both dogs and their furry friends the cats. I see that there is already a weblog called writers & cats. Here is a lovely picture of Colette and companion.

[Cornflower]

Many thanks for those links, DP. Unlike Colette, I'm not about to have my animal companions on my desk (even if they were small enough to fit)!

[Georgina]

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Flush of course, but I think the cats have it. Doris Lessing, Olivia Manning, Antonia White and Compton Mackenzie all wrote books about their cats and of course there's T S Eliot. I could go on, as I collected cat books for some years and focused
on authors and artists - but I won't.

[Ruthiella]

I love and have both cats and dogs. Thank you for this post CF. The story of Emily Bronte's dog is sad, but very in keeping with dog personality. They are very loyal (well, most of them!).

[Cornflower]

What an interesting subject for a collection!
Speaking of Flush, I've read Virginia Woolf's biography (published by Persephone), but should perhaps take another look now.

[Cornflower]

The loyalty and affection dogs show their people is second to none. (I've never had a cat so know little of their ways).

[Dark Puss]

It's hard to better (in recent years) the wonderful Marge Piercy and her honest memoir Sleeping with Cats

[Georgina]

Thank you for that recommendation. Seems the collection is about to expand by one.

[Dark Puss]

I wrote a short precis of it on my weblog.

[Dark Puss]

Don't look to cats for the same type of affection and loyalty that you get from dogs. However

“Cats continue to teach me a lot of what is important in life, and also, how short it is, how we need to express our love to those for whom we feel it, daily, nightly, in every way we can.”

to quote Marge Piercy.

[thevelvetnap]

So sad in a beautiful way - EB's dog. Must check out Shaggy Muses - too many of my favourite writers listed to ignore. Though one other favourite, Colette and her dog Toby chien.